Lawrence Kudlow: Goldilocks 2.0

TownHall.com ^ | 9/15/2007 | Lawrence Kudlow

[JohnHuang2]

A batch of economy-wide stats was released Friday morning (Sept. 14), covering retail sales, industrial production, import prices, and consumer confidence.

The verdict? It's a 2 percent economy. Call it Goldilocks 2.0.

Might the current financial turmoil throttle back growth a little more in the next six months? Yes, perhaps. Will there be some negative earnings surprises, especially from financial companies? Sure.

But the bears would have us believe the sub-prime credit virus heralds the end of the world. They are wrong. Remember this: Our free-market capitalist economy is resilient and durable. It has proven time and again that it can take a punch.

Sure, recession probabilities have increased. But so what? We've had virtually uninterrupted prosperity for 25 years, going back to the supply-side economy and technological boom launched by President Ronald Reagan. Since then, we've experienced 93 positive GDP quarters and only five negative ones. That makes for a truly phenomenal batting average.

[dawn53]

Hey John,

Thanks, maybe we should ping Hydroshock. (just kidding)

[Moonman62]

What happened to Kudlow’s column from last week was a lot more negative, which is very unusual for him?

[capitalist229]

The 25 year miracle economy is heavily dependent on maintaining confidence in a system of ever increasing leverage created by the Fed printing press.

My monetary bets are placed on the inevitability of a crisis of confidence springing from speculative excess.

BUMP

[Fairview]

Thanks, maybe we should ping Hydroshock. (just kidding)

Don't even kid about that. The poor man would be devastated if he heard any good news; his great pleasure in life appears to be posting doom-and-gloom reports.

[Toddsterpatriot]

He’s Willie Green, version 2.0